Asian Shooting C'ship: Arjun, Elavenil win 10m Air Rifle mixed with World Record

India’s Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan set World Record and Asian Championship record enroute their gold-winning performance in 10m air rifle mixed team final at the ongoing Asian Shooting Championship in New Delhi.

Arjun and Elavenil combined to score 505 points in the final to successfully defend their Asian title. They finished ahead of Republic of Korea’s Kim Woorim and Kwon Eunji (501 points) and Japan’s Naoya Okada and Misaki Nobata (437.9 points).

The previous record of 502.7 set by the German duo of Hanna Buehlmeyer and Maximilian Ulbrich at the ISSF Grand Prix in Slovenia last month.

Compatriots Rudrankksh Patil and Meghana Sajjanar, who is eight months pregnant, finished third with a score of 629 in the qualification round. They did not advance as only one pair per nation was allowed to compete in the final.

Speaking of his performance in the final and at the continental meet, Arjun said he was delighted to perform consistently.

“I have been working on a few aspects for the final round where I was lacking. I am glad I could execute that and consecutively deliver. I want to build on this performance and keep improving,” Arjun Babuta said.

Reflecting on their performance in the final, Elavenil, meanwhile, said, “I am happy my learnings are working. I want to keep learning. Arjun and I were both compensating each other. It was a good team effort.”

The Indian pair led from the start and managed a comfortable 2.4 points lead ahead of the Japanese pair with 211 points at the end of second series. Therre after therre was no change on the top with India scoring 315.8 points (after round 3), 358.4 points (after round 4) and 400.2 (after round 5). 

In the junior event, Shambhavi Shravan Kshirsagar and Himanshu clinched the gold medal with an Asian Junior Record of 502.4 with Kazakhstan and Maldives winning silver and bronze, respectively.